Playing at Witches

We wait for night

Our cackles echo off the buildings as we ride

Enter our lair as the rain begins to fall

We begin our moonlight ritual:

A single flame, an open book, a charm to turn brothers to toads

Our whirling bodies become one with the storm

Until dawn comes and the coven’s work is done

Gouache, pencil, monoprint

9” x 12”

2025

For Folktale Week 2025, I created a short narrative sequence from seven word prompts: Night, Echo, Rain, Book, Charm, Storm, and Dawn. The text speaks in the collective voice of a witches’ coven, but the images tell on them.  What appears to be dark ritual is, in fact, a sleepover — adolescent girls playing at witchcraft, conjuring mystery out of the ordinary.